Artist Walt Pourier giving a talk to a crowd of people inside the artist studio

Native Arts Artist-in-Residence

Artist Steven Yazzie speaking in the studio in front of a crowd of visitors

About the Program

The Native Arts Artist-in-Residency Program serves as an incubator for creative expression, providing artists with an opportunity to push their artistic practice, study and take inspiration from the museum’s collections, and engage and collaborate with museum visitors. For the 2026 residency, the Denver Art Museum invited four artists with ancestral ties to the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute tribes to create artwork for the museum’s Indigenous Arts of North America galleries. These new works will serve as a reimagining of the current Home/Land section, which recognizes the Native Nations that refer to Denver and the surrounding area, today known as Colorado, as their ancestral homelands.

During their staggered residencies this spring, each artist will be on-site working on their projects and engaging with museum visitors through studio visits, talks, and workshops. Their new artwork will be on view starting August 1, 2026. Please check back for updates on residency dates.

2026 Artists-in-Residence

Headshot of artist CooXooEiii

Photo courtesy of Balducci Photography

CooXooEii Black

CooXooEii Black (he/him) is an Afro-Indigenous poet and writer from the Wind River Indian Reservation and a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. His poetry draws heavily on family and his experiences growing up on the reservation as well as the complexities of his dual heritage and spiritual identities. He uses vivid, personal anecdotes, often from his childhood, to explore broader historical and cultural contexts.

Black’s chapbook The Morning You Saw a Train of Stars Streaking Across the Sky won the 2022 Rattle Chapbook Prize. His poetry has been published in literary magazines, including Rattle, Palette Poetry, Carve Magazine, and EcoTheo Review. Black also served as the senior poetry editor for The Pinch Journal.

CooXooEii Black earned a bachelor degree in English with a focus on creative writing from Colorado College and a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Memphis, where he now serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of English.

Open Studio Hours: Black will be in the studio from 2-4 pm on Tuesday, March 10, Thursday, March 12, and Saturday, March 14.

Black and white headshot of artist Benjamin L. West

Photo courtesy of the artist

Benjamin L. West

Benjamin L. West (he/him) is deeply influenced by the strong Southern Cheynne traditions imparted by his father and his proud membership in the Otoe-Missouria Tribe on his mother’s side. From a young age, he was inspired to preserve and celebrate the rich culture of his people through his art, ensuring their stories and traditions continue to thrive for future generations.

West’s multimedia work blends traditional storytelling with cutting-edge digital media that incorporates photography, digital imagery, video, and augmented reality. Through his art, West addresses the critical issues facing Indian Country by narrating the present-day experiences and resilience of Native American communities.

West’s work has been featured at the Missoula Art Museum and the Great Plains Art Museum at the University of Nebraska. It is in the collections of the Newark Museum of Art and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.

Open Studio Hours: West will be in the studio from 1-3 pm on Tuesday, February 24, Thursday, February 26, and Saturday, February 28.

Headshot of Adrian Stevens and Sean Snyder, with one sitting and the other standing side-by-side

Photo courtesy of Nate Lemuel

Adrian Stevens and Sean Snyder

Adrian Stevens (he/him/they) and Sean Snyder (he/him/they), a dynamic Two-Spirit couple, are dedicated activists and artists. They use their platform to raise awareness about issues affecting Indigenous peoples, such as environmental justice, sovereignty, and cultural preservation. Their beadwork and artistic expressions further amplify their message and connect them to their ancestral heritage—Stevens, a descendant of Northern Ute, Shoshone-Bannock, and San Carlos Apache Tribes, and Snyder, a member of the Navajo Nation and a descendant of the Southern Ute Tribe.

Stevens and Snyder were featured in Vogue for their beaded “Birkin” bag, which also won the top beadwork ribbon at the 2024 SWAIA (Southwestern Association for Indian Arts) Indian Market. Their most recent fashion ensembles hit the runway in 2025 at the SWAIA Native Fashion Week and the second annual Indigenous Fashion Gala in Los Angeles.

The couple was also featured in the film Sweetheart Dancers, which has garnered critical acclaim and sparked important discussions about inclusivity and diversity within Indigenous communities.

Past Residencies

Past Native Arts Artist-in-Residents include:

Men and women dressed in traditional Indigenous clothing celebrating Powwoww in front of the museum entrance

Our Commitment to Indigenous Communities

The Denver Art Museum is located on the homeland of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute people, along with many people from other Indigenous nations that call this place home. Museums have benefited from the displacement of Indigenous people and the removal and historical misrepresentation of their arts, often resulting in deep harm to originating communities.

While we cannot change the past, we can change how we move forward. Indigenous people have made substantial impacts to our institution, and our identity is innately tied to the Native histories and contributions of Indigenous people past and present. This inspires and grounds us as we move forward in a better way.

We commit to:

  • Building authentic and sustained relationships with Indigenous people at multiple touch points across the museum.
  • Centering, elevating and supporting Indigenous people in our programs and practices and providing meaningful access to our resources including collections, programs, tools, and spaces.
  • Actively listening to and integrating Indigenous voices to grow as an inclusive and accessible space.

The Native Arts Artist-in-Residence program is supported by The Christensen Fund, Deacon Turner, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD).